Why OpenSource??? Reloaded

i must write sometime on why i think a wiki is more powerfull than a blog. blogs are very static. u blog about something and thats it. the maX possible is u get some commments and u respond to them. but wikis are more than just posting stuff. they are about evolving ideaZ. theres also one another point. wikis can and are at many times unfinished. u can sit down and finis it any time u feel like doing so. here in a blog i cant seem to write stuff which is still unfinished in my mind. i have to have a somewhat big picture in my mind. and i aint think a draft is a solution to that problem. infact what happens is once i click on the 'Save as Draft' link i aint seem to ever finish and publish it. anyway thats a different story. i was actually saying this bcoZ when i was reading the comments on my why openSoource post, i thought i needed to modify it, exapnd it, clarify it and at some times rephrase some of it so that i can convey better what i wanted to. unfortunately though blogging tools, donot allow me to edit the posts in a manner that would clearly potray teh evolution through which the post came to its final form.
anyway getting back to openSource.
First as to the comment on microsoft. the problem is that of choice. microsoft enforces stuff on u. how would u feel if u were told that if u drink pepsi, and if u wanna have a pitZZa then its gotta be a dominoZ. do hell with dominoZ. i wanna have one at pitZZa Hut. openSource helps to build 'best of the breed' applications and utilities. ofcourse microsoft is a great company with unparalleled business acumen. and we have lots of stuff to learn from it. but that does not change the facts.
k, then there`s this thing that isnt microsoft also following the nash eQuilibrium?? true. but towards what goal?? to restate the Nash eQuilibrium

the maximum benefit to a group can be realized if each individual works for his own benefit and the group's

In the context of microsoft, group=microsoft. and benefit=???. clearly benifit=money in this case. and that is precisely why, biologically or otherwise it has always been profitale to be diverse. in teh case of openSource, group='openSource dV community' and benifit='open, free sw'. that is the power of openSource.

PS: my exams just finished and it has been a hell of a time. lots of pending stuff.should get back to regular posting soon

Why OpenSource???

not much to write this time. just wanted to assert the fact that im a big fan of openSource. but why?? the anti-microsoft logic?? the monetary advantage?? well, yes and no.
yes bcoZ they do form part of the reasoning, and no biggest there is another single largest factor that outwits all of these.
and that is bcoZ open source works on a simple law known as the Nash equilibrium. and that i shall quote in simple words here

the maximum benefit to a group can be realized if each individual works for his own benefit and the group's

Geek PickUp Line

Want to come see my HARD DRIVE ? I promise it isn't 3.5 inches and it ain't floppy.

wachha going to say to that???

Incident with Miss S

Nov 12 '04, 4:50 pm ::
Miss S calls up on friend`s phone and says she`s coming to Gandhinagar the next day to visit Akshardham with her cousins. She says we should meet. (Miss S is my dad`s friends daughter and we met at Bangalore when she and her family stayed at our house for a couple of days. ) So i ask her when she``ll come and how we`ll meet. she says that they`ll reach here early morning(at about 9am) and she`ll visit me at college. i say fine, but call me.
Nov 13`04, 11:41 am ::
SMS frm her cell. "Hey. We just reached. We are at R World. Is your college near akshardham? Will ring you up once we get free. see you."
(RWorld is a cineplex nearby)
SMS reply from me. (cant find a fullstop in the LG RIM) "you`ll pass my college in the next five minutes, btw how have you come, by car???"
SMS reply from her. "Yeah. By car. Cant wait to see you. I guess i would be able to meet you in the evening. It that okay with you? Hope its no a hassle for you."
SMS reply from me. (What i wanna write: shutup and cut the crap. if u wanna meet me u can order me to do so, and i shall oblige) "plan accordingly, dont tell me then u ran outtof time; btw what are u going to do at akshardham till evening??"
No reply from her.

Nov 13`04, 06:08 pm ::
SMS frm her cell. "Hey. We just left akshardham. Going to R world. Can you come there in 25 mins? Our movie show is at 7. i can atleast spend half an hour with you."
SMS reply frm me. (found full-stop on LG RIM) "it`ll take 40-45 mins for me to reach there. so cant catch u there. what time does the show get over??"
Call frm her. (cant remmember exact conversation, but this the gist).
She. what can we do now. dint u say the college was 5 mins from the hostel?
me thinking. hell what? i shouldnt be penaliZed for doing some math and giving her a real time stat. i had thought since i read the message 5 mins late and they wwould be in a car, 5 minutes later they would cross my college. but its different now. i aint have a car, not even a bike. ill have to walk outoof my college, and get an auto and that would take a hella lottof tome.
me. well, thats bcoZ i presumed u were coming by car and now if i had a bike i would have reached there in 20-25 mins. but now i gotta walk outtof the college and get an auto and u know auto speeds???
she. k, then the show gets over at 10. wouldnt that be laate for you??
me. no, thats fine, but the point is that aint u want to leave for home after the show??
she. no, i aint going from here, without metting you
me. which movie is it?
she. veer-zaara
me thinking. wtf????
me. how can u watch such a movie??
she. no one asked u ur expert comments. anyway ill call u half an hour before the movie gets over and then u can come here.
me. veer-zaara is a 3 hr movie.
she. so ill call u at about 9:30
me. k.

no call frm her. i think i wanna have a coffe. so ileave for RWorld. reach there at 9:45pm. still no call. go inside get an exPresso take away from Coffe Day. come out. start sipping coffee and pinging her cell with calls. calls aint go through.

Nov 13`04, 10:10 pm ::
her call.
me. is it time??
she. shodhan, are u here.
me. are u there??
she. yes, im standing at the gate
me. which gate. teh vehicle gate or the complex gate
she. the complex gate. im wearing a green salwar-kameeZ.
me thinking. wtf?? how can u wear a green salwar??
me. im wearing an orange t-shirt. theres that sankalp thing there.
she. no. yes, ill stnd near the sankalp thing.
finally i bump into her.
she lets out her hand, whcih turns outt to be such a loose, sick handshake. i hate loose handshakes.
me. finally, the lady.
before i complete the sentence, an interruption. standing in front of me are 3 adults and 3 children which by her face i could say were her relatives. she introduces me to them. her brother M is also there. she tells me i have put on weight. god im only 52 kgs and 5'8.5". then she whispers something into her uncles ear and tells me we can walk towards the parking.
me thinking. wtf?? is that why u called me here. so that i could walk u upto the car. what the hell do u think of urself. and what the hell do u think ur doing???
me. sure.
we start walking. she said she liked the movie. im like oh my god. so she says, yeah ur all guys nah. so i clear her misconception and say that no, i aint have that 'yukky love' policy and give her the eXample of 'luv actaully' which is one of my favs. so then she is like yeah, ur all the dudes, english movie buffs. no, i said, DDLJ was good. veer-zaara sucks and thats a fact. she leaves it there. we reach teh car.
she says. everybody is really tired. i had to really get on my knees to convince everybosdy.
me thinking. what for??? so that i could walk u to the car???
me. mum
she. and convey my regrds to ur parents when u talk to them. blah blah blah.
end of story.
i walk of to the scooter and leave. on my way back i think of 2 things.
Either
Girls ARE Exceptions
AND/OR
I really suck with girls

Btw, reasonalble choices i would have made if i were in her place and really wanted to meet the guy

1. Skipped Akshardham for a while and came to my college.
2. Called me to Akshardham.
3. Skipped some part of that shitty movie.
4. Atleast provide a firm handShake

Song for teh moment -- Puddle of Mudd "She hates Me"

Met a girl
Thought she was grand
Fell in love
Found out first hand
Went well for a week or two
Then it all came unglued

In a trap
Trip I can't grip
Never thought I'd be the one who'd slip
Then I started to realize
I was living one big lie
She fuckin' hates me
Trust
She fuckin' hates me
La la la love
I tried too hard
And she tore my feelings like I had none
And ripped them away

She was queen for about an hour
After that, shit got sour
She took all I ever had
No sign of guilt
No feeling of bad, no

In a trap
Trip I can't grip
Never thought I'd be the one who'd slip
Then I started to realize
I was living one big lie
She fuckin' hates me
Trust
She fuckin' hates me
La la la love
I tried too hard
And she tore my feelings like I had none
And ripped them away

That's my story
As you see
Learned my lesson
And so did she
Now it's over
And I'm glad
Cuz I'm a fool for all I said

She fuckin' hates me
Trust
She fuckin' hates me
La la la love
I tried too hard
And she tore my feelings like I had none
And ripped them away

Note :: Only the bold part of teh song is of intrest.

N tasks i cant seem to accomplish

• Be as Charming as Hugh Grant
• Tone some Abs and Triceps
• Getta Gal
• Getta Job

GooGlator

this is real kool. u can translate any webPage present in google`s cache into some text as if someone else was speaking it out. and its really some fun. i personally liked the version where i translated my blog into that narrated by a pimp.
give it a shot.

Two Days

Just 2 days and teh stats are mind boggling
GMail Inbox : 67 Unread
College MailBox : 56 Unread
BlogLines Account : 132 Unread
i visited my maternal grand mom`s place and twas 2 days without the net and my lappy. there wasnt even an english news-paper. no cable. twas kool.
c Ya Then

Intelligence and Randomness

this is my one of my greatest discovery. read the statement and think about it. believe me this has come out of hours and hours of discussions and duels (yes, duels) over a myriade number of topics. here it
if there is anything known as intelligence
and
if there is anything known as randomness
then
intelligence is in randomness
and
randomness is in intelligence

Technology and Us

Update: i just gave this one another read and it aint seem that connected. i have a presentation tom. so dont blame me guys
yesterday i went to the ICICI ATM ant the machine seiZed my card and didnot allow me to withdraw any money. apparently it seems to have been hot listed. anyway this only aggravated me. i was so frustrated on using th e ATM. it was so stupid. it alwasys asks me which language, then which account(savings and current are ooptions. surprise, surprise, i aint have a current accoutn!!!) , then whether or not i wanted a printed transaction. why not just make it remmember my preferences. atleast it can remmember which language i always choose and whether or not i demand a printed transaction. the point is that the (HCI)human-computer interface should be as simple to use for begineers as possible and provide as many shortcuts as possible for frequent users. isnt that simple??? this also brings me to an incident that occured a couple of years ago. i had gone to book tickets to go home for the vacation and there seemed to be a fight b/w the guy in frnt of me and the counter guy. apparently twas over some refund that the counter guy was not coughing up. as i stepped b/w the two i found out that there was a server error and so the acccounts aint show a refund. hence the counter guy couldnt give him a refund as then it would be cut of his pocket. i calmed down both of them and foolishly took the side of the counter guy saying that twas not his fault and blah blah blah. i was sooo wrong. it is only now that i realised. the way i see it technology helps business in 2 ways. the first one where technology is the business, like selling cameras or TVs and all. the other and th emore important one is where technolog acts as a business enabler. it should never put an overhead on business.

busRoutes launched

well, it has just been brought to my notice that busRoutes has already been launched on RWorld with much fan fare. im proud to say that i was the one who did everything frm its requirements analysis, design and coding. its one hell of an aapp. every time it went in for testing the whole testing team would have its fingers crossed. thhe app caused them enormous problems due to the amount of processing it did. heres a brief description of the app. so guys n gals who have a RIM check it out on RWorld-> Hot n New-> busroutes. later it would be shifted to RWorld->guides->busRoutes.

BusRoutes is an application designed to help the average middle class commuter with his daily commutation problem in cities both large and small. Soon to be on R-World the application has been designed to provide the user with an appropriate array of choice of bus route numbers from the source to the desired destination bus stop. The commuter can make a final decision on which bus he would like to choose depending on information such as frequency of bus, time of journey, type of bus, and fare for journey etc. as provided by the application. The application has been carefully designed to provide the user with a best possible alternative even in the case of a direct route being non-existant. The user can search for a bus route in 3 possible manners. The first being the direct search wherein the user can input directly the source and destination bus stops. In case of a direct route being non-existent the application suggests some routes which touch the same source area as provided by the user. The second option is an area search wherein the users can query the existing database even if he is unsure of the bus stop names. He can do so by using the specific area names. The third option is of an indirect search which the user can use in cases where a direct bus is unavailable at a required time or unavailable at all. The user can enter the source and destination bus stops and the application will display the user one or more break journeys (max 4). The break points are actually a list of the most connected bus stops in the specific city. Currently the application is up and running for two cities (Mumbai and Bangalore) but can be scaled up to N number of cities.